Minimal Make-Up Routine

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be showing you how to create an everyday minimal make-up routine that's perfect for school or simply popping out to the shops.

1. First of all, I use Bourjois' Happy Light Illuminating Serum Primer to smooth out my complexion, making base application much easier.
2. Now, I hide any spots or blemishes with my Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealear, patting it in with my index finger.
3. Then I dab a little bit of the  Body Shop's All-in-One BB Cream onto my cheeks, nose, chin and forehead, blending it outwards.
4. The next thing I do is take my Real Techniques Blush Brush and sweep a small amount of bronzer all over my face.
5.  Then I dab Max Factor's Miracle Touch Creamy Blush onto my cheekbones.
6. Using the shade Chocolate from the W7 In The Buff Palette, I lightly fill in my brows with a small, angled brush.
7. Finally, I slick on some of the Body Shop's Born Lippy lip balm and that's me done!

I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I enjoyed filming it!

Lucy x

Tanya Burr's Choc Chip Cookies

Sunday afternoon's are made for baking, so yesterday I decided to bake these amazing choc chip cookies! I found the recipe in Tanya Burr's new book, which, by the way, is absolutely awesome! As they were so tasty, I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys...

Ingredients:

• 200g butter
• 300g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 325g self-raising flour
• A dash a milk (optional)
• 200g white chocolate
• 200g milk chocolate

Method:

1. To begin, pre-heat your oven to 200˚C, then whisk the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. To make sure the butter blends easily, let it soften at room temperature or to quicken things up a bit, put it in the microwave for a maximum of 10 seconds.
2. Next, crack an egg into the bowl. Then, gradually add the flour until the ingredients are fully-combined. If the dough appears dry and crumbly, add a dash of milk until it's the perfect consistency.
3. With clean hands, break the chocolate up into big and small pieces. If you own a Pampered Chef Food Chopper, then use this to cut up the chocolate as it is much quicker than doing it by hand.
4. Add the chocolate chunks to the cookie dough and, using your hands, spread them as evenly as possible through the mixture.
5. Shape the mixture into 10 - 12 balls and place them on a baking tray covered in grease-proof  paper. You may need to bake two to three batches as the cookies expand, so it's best to have no more than 3 on one tray.
6. Bake for 12 minutes. They will look as if they need much longer, but don't do it! Leave them in the baking trays or on a cooling rack for half an hour. They should be gooey in the middle and crunchy on the outside - yum!

These are the ultimate sweet treat and would be perfect for a bake sale or even just to share with your family and friends. Enjoy!

Lucy x

January Beauty Favourites

Happy February everyone! It’s scary how fast January’s flown by, don’t you think? Surely it wasn’t a month ago that we were waving farewell to 2014?! Before we know it, the summer months will be here but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves…

Anyway, here’s a few beauty products I’ve been loving recently:

W7 In The Buff Eye Colour Palette RRP £9.95

I’d admired W7’s In the Buff palette in December, so when I received it for Christmas, I was more than happy! It offers a variety of nude shades, both warm and cool.

Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Primer RRP £10.99

At first, I was apprehensive to buy this product due to it’s price, but, boy, I’m so glad I did! After applying it, my skin looks far more even, pores appear smaller and my make-up lasts twice as long as usual! This product also leaves me with a natural, healthy-looking glow.

Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara RRP £8.99

I bought this product a while ago, and, at first, I wasn’t too keen so I put it away in a drawer and forgot about it. But, whilst tiding, I rediscovered this amazing mascara and have used it daily ever since. This product adds loads of volume to the lashes and doesn’t go clumpy. It’s by far the best mascara I’ve ever had and I will most definitely be replacing this item when it runs out!

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer £5.49

This concealer provides great coverage and really brightens up the eye area! It comes in four different shades: Ivory (the lightest shade), True Ivory, Classic Beige and Soft Beige (the darkest shade). The only negative thing about this product is that it draws attention to dry areas, so probably isn’t the best choice for people with dry skin.

Batiste Dry Shampoo RRP £2.99

 This product instantly refreshes second-day hair, eliminating oiliness from the roots and adding loads of volume and texture. I’d highly recommend this product as it works wonders on dull, lifeless hair desperately in need of a boost. It smells gorgeous too! To read an in depth review on Batiste, click here.

So these are my January beauty favourites! Why not list three of your beauty favourites in the comments below? Have a good evening!

Lucy x

Brand Focus: Bomb Cosmetics

Like any stereo-typical teenage girl, I L-O-V-E all things Lush, but a few weeks ago, I discovered Bomb Cosmetics and so far, I've been loving their products just as much!

Established over 14 years ago, Bomb Cosmetics was a a company I'd never heard of until recently when my mum introduced it to me. For Christmas, I received their Sweet Heart gift set, which included four bath blasters and one bath mallow (they were all lovely!).

Fresh Berry Bath Blaster

The company's ethos is similar to Lush's - made with natural ingredients, against animal testing and presented in a cute, fun way. They sell a wide range of products, from bath blasters to scented candles, and shampoo bars to body scrub.

Bomb Cosmetics are quite hard to come by as they're only stocked by independent retailers, however they do have a website, where you can check out all their products and purchase any you like the look of.

Their bath blasters are fractionally cheaper than most Lush bath bombs, costing £2.29, which, in my opinion is very reasonable for such as high-quality product.

I haven't yet tried enough Bomb Cosmetics' products to make a fair comparison to Lush, but, so far I've been hugely impressed and I know that I'll definitely be buying more from them!

Have you ever tried something from Bomb Cosmetics? Did you like it? 

Hope you enjoyed reading this!

Lucy x

Getting Braces

Getting braces can be a nerve-racking experience, but, take it from me, it's really not as bad as you'd think. Yesterday, I was both anxious and excited to finally have them fitted.

In case you're worried about getting braces (or simply interested), read on to find out exactly what it's like:

 Once comfortably seated in the dental chair, the orthodontist applied a small amount of liquid conditioner to each tooth, using a tiny brush. After it had set, he put brackets on all my upper teeth. Then, he shone a special light on the brackets to set them in place. Next, he attached a wire to the grooves in the brackets before securing the wire in place with tiny elastics (these bits are changed monthly by your orthodontist). You'll be pleased to know, the process only took half an hour and it's wasn't painful in the slightest.

It's best to steer clear of hard, chewy sweets and fizzy drinks. After getting braces, you're teeth will be tender and it's likely you'll find it hard to eat at all, so opt for soft foods like pasta. Smoothies are a good idea too as they involve no chewing whatsoever. Take a tooth brush to school/work and clean your teeth after every meal. Also, make sure to take an inter-dental brush too to clean behind the wire.

I'm not going to lie to you, braces ache... a lot. At first, they were absolutely fine, but when I woke up this morning, they killed. I barely ate all day! Hopefully, the discomfort should be gone in a few days, but meanwhile I'll just have to live with it because I know the end result will be well and truly worth it!

Lucy x

My Sunday Evening Pamper Routine

After a long, demanding week, why not reward yourself with a relaxing pamper evening? With the weekend drawing to a close, it's hard to look forward to school and work again, but a pamper evening always seems to pick me up and leaves me feeling ready to face the week ahead!

My first step in the pamper process is to remove my make-up and run a deep, steamy bath. Then, I'll light a scented candle (why is it candle's are so relaxing?) and apply a  face mask. Normally, I spend half an hour to forty-five minutes in the bath (any longer than that and my hands go all wrinkly!). 

After that nourishing soak, I pull on my cosiest pajamas and moisturise. At the moment, I'm using Clean and Clear's Dual Action Moisturiser, which I find works really effectively.

Lastly, I make myself a yummy hot chocolate and take it up to my room, where I hop into bed and catch up on my favourite YouTubers' latest videos. 

Thank you for reading this post - I hope it has inspired you to pencil in an evening of 'me-time' every once in while!

Lucy x

Girl Online

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of Zoella, who has almost 7 million subscribers to her YouTube channel!

Her debut novel, Girl Online, sold over 78,000 copies within a week of being released. 

Being a huge fan, I couldn't wait to get reading! It turns out that Girl Online is the best book I've read in a long, long time; it's totally amazing and definitely worth reading. I honestly couldn't put the book down it was that good!

What's Girl Online about?

I'm not going to give much away here as I don't want to spoil it for you, so here's a quick summary of what's heading your way:

Penny has a secret identity. Under the alias Girl Online, she blogs about school, boys, her crazy family, true love and panic attacks, which seem to have taken over her life since The Accident.

When her parents agree  to arrange a couple's wedding in New York, Penny and her best friend Elliot are whisked off to America, where Penny meets a boy. It was as if they were made for each other.

But when she returns to the UK, things go terribly, terribly wrong and Penny's world turns pear-shaped...

My thoughts on Girl Online...

Girl Online is such a great book and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. I'm sort of sad that I finished it so quickly. Zoella, please write a sequel!

Lucy x